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69th Primetime Emmy Awards

The 69th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards honored the best in U.S. prime time television programming from June 1, 2016 until May 31, 2017, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The ceremony was held on Sunday, September 17, 2017 at the Microsoft Theater in Downtown Los Angeles, California, and was broadcast in the U.S. by CBS. The ceremony was hosted by Stephen Colbert. The 69th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards were held on September 9 and 10, and was broadcast by FXX on September 16.

The nominations were announced by Anna Chlumsky and Shemar Moore on July 13, 2017. Channelwise, the freshman HBO science fiction western drama Westworld and NBC sketch comedy Saturday Night Live were the most nominated programs, each with 22 nominations.

The night saw several other historic firsts. Donald Glover became the first African-American to win Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series. Riz Ahmed, with his win for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, became the first Asian to win the category as well as the first South Asian male to win an acting award and first South Asian to win a lead acting award. Ahmed and Dave Chappelle also became the first Muslims to win acting awards, with Ahmed being the first Muslim to win a lead acting award and Chappelle the first to win for a guest role. With Aziz Ansari and Lena Waithe winning Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, Waithe became the first African-American female to win that award. Julia Louis-Dreyfus also won her record sixth consecutive Emmy in the same category for the same role.

The awards ceremony drew 11.4 million viewers, on par with the previous awards ceremony, but one of the lowest viewerships for the Primetime Emmys overall. Analysts attribute this to younger audiences preferring to watch clips or summaries than the entire event, and to Florida markets being affected by Hurricane Irma. Numerous sources have also reported that the political skew of the show in recent years has led to decline in viewership.